In defense of ''Girlfriends''
Admit to liking Girlfriends — now in season 7 on The CW — and people snicker in a way that makes me want to cry into my crab cakes: Laugh track (snort)? Three-camera setup (snort)? Self-contained plots (snort, snort)? Fans don't even need to buy the extras-free set to catch up (BET airs twice-weekly marathons) — discs are just so much easier to hide than an overloaded TiVo. Trust me: Girlfriends is fall-on-the-floor funny. In season 1 (Unrated, 471 mins., 2000-01), Joan (Tracee Ellis Ross) beds a man in a girdle, dates an underperforming sex addict, and stalks Sinbad. Her pals — young mom Maya (Golden Brooks), mooch Lynn (Persia White), and gold digger Toni (Jill Marie Jones) — school her in plushophilia, chin hairs, and guest star Terrell Davis. But I like her best opposite work pal William (Reggie Hayes), the six-foot-plus mama's boy with a ''stylishly retro medium-sized Afro.'' His corny jokes are unbelievable — he asks Joan if he can bend her ear, then reaches out and twists it. After that, I started watching already sitting on the floor.
